Football Wins May Not Spur School's Donors

Common sense suggests a university's athletic success translates to more athletic donations. But do victories on the field also help academic giving?

For years, that's been a rebuttal by universities to critics who say college sports distracts from a university's educational mission. Now partial research at the University of Arkansas suggests football success may actually reduce academic donations.

Gi-Yong Koo, an Arkansas doctoral student in sport management, and his professor, Stephen Dittmore, have looked at how the winning percentage of football and men's basketball teams compare to annual academic and athletic giving. So far, they've examined 10-year data from 2000 to 2009 at 29 Football Bowl Subdivision schools.